Garbine Muguruza (click to enlarge)
While I am unabashedly rooting for Madison Keys and Simona Halep to advance to the semifinals from the Red Group at the 2016 WTA Finals, in the White Group it was all about Garbine Muguruza for me. Well, Garbi will make it to the semifinals of the year-end tournament…one day, just not this year. After Agnieszka Radwanska defeated Mugu 7-6 (1) 6-3 and the indefatigable Svetlana Kuznetsova took down Karolina Pliskova, 3-6 6-2 7-6 (6), Garbi cannot advance to the semifinals, regardless of the outcome of her upcoming match on Friday with Sveta. In fact, that match means nothing to either of them. Kuznetsova, 2-0 in round robin play so far, is already guaranteed to make the semis. The winner of the Agnieszka Radwanska v Karolina Pliskova match will join Sveta. As I said on the eve of play starting, Mugu is the new Petra Kvitova. When she is at her best she is nearly unbeatable, but we so rarely see that side of her. She could have won this event or lost all three of her round robin matches. Since Sveta has nothing to play for Friday, I imagine Garbi will win their match and avoid an 0-3 round robin record as Kuznetsova conserves energy for the semifinal round.
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8 SVETLANA KUZNETSOVA d. 4 Karolina Pliskova, 3-6 6-2 7-6 (6)
2 AGNIESZKA RADWANSKA d. 5 Garbine Muguruza, 7-6 (1) 6-3
